It’s been a grim 6 months for the anti-Brexiters among us and the thought of Britain leaving the EU may still have serious consequences to one of our largest sectors, Life Sciences. Recent reports have indicated that whilst we may be able to mitigate the fallout from the decision to leave the EU, there is widespread agreement that these will never be able to compare to the opportunities that come with an EU membership.

Concerns mainly surround winning research funding, finding talent, dealing with regulation and trading with other countries.

Talent is a key point here. With 17% of our researchers and academics within LS residing as EU Nationals, there is major worries in the future of Britain having the ability to fulfil the already challenging demands of attracting top candidates.

We know that there will be additional pressures on the NHS to invest more money in break-through drugs in the hope that we can still attract the best of the best. At this time, we can only put our faith in the ‘powers that be’ and lobbying efforts of companies such as AstraZeneca.

At SciPro, we are already working with clients on their talent strategy in a) this ambiguous ‘in-between’ stage and b) once we have further clarity on the full impact of Brexit. The bombshell from June, whilst causing the Life Sciences industry to feel unsettled, the positive is that it will make recruitment companies raise their game…and that can only be a good thing.

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At least, it is for now. That, and much else, has been thrown into doubt by the vote in June to leave the EU. Many now wonder whether this hotspot for life sciences, which many had thought might come to rival San Francisco or Boston, will continue to thrive. Brexit presents the industry with problems in four main areas: winning research funding, finding talent, dealing with regulation and trading with other countries.